Howdy, I'm in need of a Linux server on a separate, primarily offline network I have set up at a job. I was initially leaning toward Arch Linux, my distro of many years I use for my workstations and some home servers. BUT, I don't want to spend loads of time updating rolling updates, monitoring security vulns and bugs, and I don't really have time to build a server up from scratch either (relinquishing controlling / minimalist nature to allow time saving in this case). Ideally SE or security centric values are important. I also need it to bring up a wireless interface (in addition to the wired network) for Internet connectivity on occasion for updating NTP and grabbing security updates and AV definitions. I can BASH script and run a cron job for everything, however the wifi requires an Accept button be pushed on a web page before access is granted every time a connection is made to it. It's a Cisco based access point. I did a quick search on Google and didn't find any kind of automation for this. Worst case scenario I could do a Python script to make this automated (hopefully, page is SSL) and kick it off from my cron job BASH script if no one has any suggestions. On a separate note, I'll be securing the wifi transmission as well. The server will run services for a gigabit switch comprised of mostly Windows 7 workstations with one Linux workstation (total of 8 ~ 10 computers). It will service anywhere from 0 - 4 users simultaneously and run backups and database back-end for an application every so often. I plan to set up an OS disk and separate software RAID0 for storage. Services to provide: * NTP * DNS * SMART (monitoring disks) / mdadm (RAID mgm, monitoring) * Syslog (for intake of switch logs) * postgres * SMTP server (sending alerts, notifications) * File server (Samba, NFS) * Comodo AV, some other home brew scripts for malware * SSH * X, lightweight but ready to use WM/DE like LXDE or XFCE- server will be headless after setup * Firewall service covering both intermittent wifi and wired networks Long term I may add: * HTTP (for webmin, monitorix, log reporting) * Room to be flexible for future needs... I've worked very little with CentOS at my last job awhile back, however am leaning toward it as I recall liking it. Are there other open source enterprise server distros people recommend for what I'm trying to accomplish? If so, how come? If I go with CentOS or whatever people recommend, are updates obtainable via command line and automation friendly (for the script)? Will I need to re-install with each major version? Are there gui front ends for most daemons or at least managing daemons (I'm used to text files and systemd, but want added convenience / time savings)? I'm open to poking around with LiveCDs / VMs for bit, the project isn't quick turn around or anything. Thanks for any suggestions! -- Jeremy MountainJohnson Jeremy.MountainJohnson at gmail.com